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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29926800">Call my name</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShawnArms/pseuds/ShawnArms'>ShawnArms</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anakin Skywalker Gets a Hug, Anakin Skywalker Has Issues, Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Angst and Tragedy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Fix-It of Sorts, Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Force Ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi, Force Ghost Yoda (Star Wars), Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Obi-Wan Kenobi Gets a Hug, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker, i just pretend anidala isn't real, is this meta?, it probably is, matthew stover made me do it, rewriting canon my way, this is how it happened, this is yoda slander</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:47:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,281</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29926800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShawnArms/pseuds/ShawnArms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"One last voice sounded in the dark before everything disappeared, and surprisingly it was Yoda’s, reminding him of what he had been told a long time ago, for completely different reasons: “Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not.” The rest of the sentence didn’t matter because Anakin realized that death was not the end, not for him. Instead, he had the vague sensation that a new life was just about to begin.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <em>And, at last, he was free."<em></em></em><br/>.<br/>.<br/>In which Anakin Skywalker comes back to life, only to die again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>62</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Call my name</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this one goes out to our lord and saviour Matthew Stover, without that damned book of his this one-shot would never have seen the light.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Anakin Skywalker came back to life, he knew it was only to die a second time. Many did wonder if the first time had been on the banks near a river or lava, where his humanity had burned away together with his body, or if Anakin had never really left Tatooine. </p>
<p>Some were convinced that Darth Vader had always been part of him from the start, thinking that such evil could not be taught, one <em>had</em> to be born with. The truth, however, was much different.</p>
<p>Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight of the Republic, had always played a game of tug and war with himself that had ultimately lost in the Chancellor's office all those years ago, dying so quietly nobody else noticed it. He knew - back then - that he was on the verge of insanity: he hadn’t slept in over a week, hadn’t eaten in Force-knew how long, the darkness inside him swallowing him whole. </p>
<p>It had been only a matter of time before his consciousness disappeared in that black, oily sea of nothingness.  Everything he had been, gone in a puff of black smoke: he had been in such agony, for so long, and letting go had been the only way to put a stop to the pain that had been devouring his body and mind that night</p>
<p>And what had made it all worse was that in his last moments, he hadn’t asked for his wife, the mother of his unborn child. No, he had been screaming for Obi-Wan, because he knew that the only person who could have saved him was so far away that his desperation couldn’t have reached him anyway. No matter how loud Anakin called for him. He had been so stupid back then, and so blind, he thought now. The truth had been so obvious to everyone but him, because he had always misunderstood the real depth of their mutual affection. </p>
<p>It wasn’t his fault, not entirely, because the only one kind of love he had known had been wrong, so wrong: it had been lust mixed with resentment. Padmé, he thought, had been the first stranger who hadn’t looked at him with contempt or pity, seeing the small boy he really was: one eager to get away from a backwater planet and find a way to make his mother’s life better.</p>
<p>She had seen him as more than just a helpless slave, and that had been enough for him to bind his heart to hers forever. </p>
<p>He should have listened to Obi-Wan, who had always tried his best to steer him away from the disaster he knew their lives would eventually become. Too bad that back then his own teenager-self only cared about defying authority and dismissing his Master’s kind words as unsolicited and prying advice, because he had been too young to see that Obi-Wan had been right all along.</p>
<p>Thinking back to those first years spent hiding their relationship he now saw how Palpatine’s influence had already started corrupting the good in him, planting the seeds of doubt, hate and anger that would give Vader ultimate power over him. During those last, fateful hours, that monster had fed him so many lies that, for a bit, he himself became convinced that what they were doing was right.</p>
<p>And so he had done it, he had killed her. Vader had succeeded in making him so angry with Obi-Wan - so jealous for hell-knows what reason - that everything had become a race between the two of them. </p>
<p>Obi-Wan. The only one who had always stood up for him, defended his reckless actions in front of the entire Jedi Council more times that one could count, just because he loved him like he had never loved anyone else, without ever being ashamed of it. And Anakin had had the nerve of taking him for granted, in all those occasions, he had always relied on his love like it was some sort of backup plan, some safe net that no matter how hard he fell would always be there to catch him.</p>
<p>And what hurt the most was that it had indeed been like that. Even when Vader had killed him on the Death Star, Obi-Wan had looked fondly at the black mask, because he knew that somewhere inside that armour Anakin Skywalker was still alive, and one day he would come out screaming.</p>
<p>Once again, he had been right about him.</p>
<p>Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even remember what point he supposedly was trying to prove all those years ago, but death was giving him clarity, and made him realize that Mustafar had been nothing more than a big, deadly, childish tantrum. Anakin Skywalker could have snapped out of his delusion, he could have made the choice of saving the entire galaxy. But Darth Vader hadn’t been able to, because he could not see beyond the sea of anger that surrounded him, and it would take Anakin a long time to understand how to free himself from the trap of the dark side, the cruelty of the Sith.</p>
<p>Now, the faded memories of Obi-Wan’s light touches were so painful that Anakin wanted to slip back into nothingness again, go back to that half-life that had been the past twenty three years, only to realize he was finally alone: there was nobody else.</p>
<p>Darth Vader was <em>gone</em>, and saving Luke had been Anakin’s final act of defiance. Sacrificing himself for his son had meant the <em>end</em> for the nightmare that had plagued the galaxy for over two decades.</p>
<p>Had he been in control of his lungs, he would have stopped breathing. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was the only one behind the steering wheel of the mortal machine that their -<em> his </em>- body had become. The fear he felt was his own, so different from the anger-fueled one that had been poisoning the very air they had been breathing until (just) a few hours ago.</p>
<p>It had been like shaking off one last layer of drowsiness, his mind clearer than ever before. If he thought about it, it now seemed like such a simple choice to make, one little loophole that allowed him to destroy the Sith with a single blow. </p>
<p>One had to shake their creed to the core, break that chain of betrayal and resentment that had been passed down from each master to their apprentice: selflessness was something the dark side never understood, and it was all it took to bring the whole system crashing down.</p>
<p>Vader’s ruin had been years in the making, and had he been less focused on wreaking havoc in the galaxy, he might have even noticed it. He had tried, many times, to extinguish the flame that was Anakin’s heart without ever succeeding, thinking that killing people with their own hands and making him watch would have ended up breaking him. But could Vader hurt him more than he already had? Stealing his body, free will and humanity hadn’t been enough?</p>
<p>He never understood one fundamental thing about Anakin: that even if Vader used him as a vessel of destruction, he didn’t care, he was too tired to care.</p>
<p>He couldn’t remember who had said it first, but he knew there was a say that went somewhat along the lines of “Skywalkers are as strong and unpredictable as kyber crystals, they love with the same fierceness as they hate, spoil their core and you end up with a weapon of mass destruction”. And now his own inner kyber had been restored, a faint blue flame that lit up his dying soul.</p>
<p>During those two decades Anakin had raged and screamed in silence, reaching multiple times through the Force to try and crush the shadow who had destroyed him, one piece at a time. The only problem was that he had been far less than he once was, and Palpatine had cunningly made sure that he would never succeed in getting free: he had given them a cage that doubled as a weapon, the pain it inflicted the perfect fuel to use Vader as a living menace. He was more than half machine and when reaching out to the Force he always felt like a painter gone blind, a composer gone deaf: he could almost remember where his power was, the strength that had once flown through his limbs, but what he could now use was barely its faded memory.</p>
<p>That is how it had felt to be the ghost of Anakin Skywalker, at least until Boba Fett had brought Vader the name of the damned pilot who had succeeded in blowing up that horrible metal monster, which he had despised since the moment its construction was initiated.</p>
<p>
  <em>Skywalker. Luke Skywalker.</em>
</p>
<p>Hearing that name had felt like being consumed by scorching heat for the second? Third time? He had lost count of how many times Vader’s body had been almost devoured by flames, but this was a different kind of pain they shared, because it had unlocked something whose existence Anakin had almost forgotten.</p>
<p><em>Hope</em>.</p>
<p>In the following years Vader had become obsessed with finding him, and not knowing how else to communicate with him, he had tried - foolishly, Anakin thought - to bring him to the dark side and make him his apprentice, underestimating just how much a life lived without knowing the truth about his family had shaped him. </p>
<p>That boy embodied, without even realizing it, everything the Jedi Order should have been: he was brave, fearless and so inherently<em> good </em>that nobody could have ever turned him, but most importantly, he fought for those he loved without making it a weakness. He was the living proof that Anakin Skywalker hadn’t been doomed from the beginning, but the Jedi Order and their own close-mindedness were.</p>
<p>Love gave people power, that much was true, but what the Jedi had always failed to understand was how it also gave them purpose. Fighting in the name of the galaxy for peace and freedom was indeed a great and noble cause, but sometimes living beings needed something to keep them grounded, and protecting a loved one is an easier concept to wrap one’s mind around. Fight for your own family, save those of the ones who can’t do it themselves. </p>
<p>It was that simple. Emotions and attachments made you weak only if you allowed them to overpower you, and Jedi training took care of that.</p>
<p>The knowledge that his son could rebuild the Order from scratch, and prevent other people from suffering his same terrible fate, had planted a seed of hope in the heart he and Vader shared, one that would eventually bloom into Anakin Skywalker trading his life for the future of the Jedi, and the entire galaxy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Now, he felt the nether of Force calling him, tugging at his tired body. He wanted to let go and slip into the oblivion, letting himself become part of that infinite flow of energy that bound the universe together. Had he had any tears left to cry he would have, for his exhaustion was so profound that even keeping his eyes open was painful, excruciatingly so. Also, his life support system was failing: he couldn’t feel his legs, which were trailing behind him while Luke half-dragged him along the corridor, and his sight was deteriorating rapidly, the continuous flux of messages that were shown on his lenses only worsening it. </p>
<p>He could feel Luke’s anxiety and fear reverberating in the Force around them, his urgency in getting them out of there. “Please hang in there a little longer, we’re almost to the hangar bay, I can get you to safety” the boy said between a strained intake of air and the other, his small frame shaking under the weight of his father’s limp body.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>If only that was true.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One rather conspicuous part of him found it mesmerizing that, after all <em>the other one</em> had said and done, all the pain he had inflicted upon him and his friends Luke still chose to forgive him. Anakin knew Vader did not deserve it, not in the slightest, for death was the only mercy a monster like that was entitled to, but being able to <em>feel</em> that the boy cared about his fate regardless of how terrible his deeds were filled him with a mixture of emotions he was quite sure he had never felt before. It made him feel warm, in a surprisingly pleasant way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Is there really any good left in me, even after all these years?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He turned his head to the left and for a second saw something in his son’s eyes, the same flame everyone had seen burning in his own during the Clone Wars: their signature persistence and reluctance to leave anyone behind, no matter what or how dire the situation. He had been reprimanded so many times because of it, by so many different people, and had never truly understood why, but now he did: the Rebellion’s greatest asset was putting his own life at risk to save that of the war criminal he should have left behind to die alone on the bridge near the reactor shaft. Because trapped under layers of black durasteel, metal and fabric was just another human being: his father.</p>
<p>They rounded a corner and with great effort Anakin lifted his head and saw a lambda-class shuttle waiting for them at the end of the hangar bay, boarding ramp extended on the floor. He wasn’t sure how, but they had almost made it, and not one of the stormtroopers had attempted to prevent them from escaping. They were too busy finding their own way out of that death trap.</p>
<p>For a second he almost believed that his story could have a different ending, but he knew better. He could sense it, and perhaps Luke too, that the end was near.</p>
<p>It was only then that his legs gave out completely. He couldn’t help but fall helplessly on the floor taking Luke down with him, who in turn didn’t waste time and got up immediately, grabbed his arms and started <em>dragging</em> him towards the ramp with surprising speed. The back of his helmet bumped against something and then, suddenly, his son fell on his knees in front of him. He was exhausted, trembling, his eyes shiny with unshed tears.</p>
<p>Anakin could hear the ragged sound of his own breathing and the expression painted on Luke’s face confirmed that, on some level, he too knew it was almost over, only a matter of minutes before the pitiful creature in front of him met his ultimate demise. What worried him was how the boy was clearly in denial, fighting against that knowledge, and was still somewhat convinced that by boarding that shuttle he could have had his father back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>As if dying here or in orbit makes any difference.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As gently as possible, Luke reached out with his right hand and hauled him upright by the shoulder, supporting his back with his other arm. They were close enough that Anakin could see the first cracks in son’s composure, a few tears escaping their dam.</p>
<p>“Luke,” he said faintly “Help me take this mask off.”</p>
<p>The boy’s eyes widened slightly in confusion “But - you’ll die.” He was right, and there was no point in denying it, so he just told him the truth.</p>
<p>“Nothing can stop that now,” he paused, made a quick decision and went on “just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes.”</p>
<p>Luke probably didn’t understand how much that simple gesture meant for someone like him, someone that for twenty three years had looked at the world through a couple of lenses always filled with tactical information and life-support data. For one last time, he wanted to look at his son without any hindrance, and allow him to remember him like the human he had once been, not the faceless machine he had become.</p>
<p>The boy looked a bit deflated but complied anyway, starting to remove the back of the helmet with unsteady hands. It came off with a gentle hiss of pressurized air and then it was the turn of the faceplate, the last barrier between the past and the present.</p>
<p>The faint light of the hangar bay was blinding for his scorched eyes, which needed more than just a few seconds to adjust. Luke looked at his ruined face and like many others before him, his features were distorted by pity and confusion, as if unable to comprehend what had happened to him. But there was something else, a soft curve of his mouth as their gazes met, a gentle spark of recognition in the hum of his Force signature as he stretched it towards him.</p>
<p>“Now,” he said in his real voice, whose sound he had almost forgotten “Go my son, leave me.”</p>
<p>Luke shook his head slowly, dismissing what he probably thought was a stupid idea. “No! You’re coming with me, I’m not leaving you here. I’ve got to save you.” </p>
<p>Anakin lifted his left hand - using what was left of his strength - and cupped his son’s cheek, even if he could not feel nor his skin nor the warmth it radiated, and moved his thumb to brush away the single wet streak on his face. The boy leaned into it and looked down at his father with those big blue eyes he had inherited from him, still full of that childhood innocence that made him shine as bright as a star in the Force.</p>
<p>More tears started to flow and he could sense the pleading in Luke’s soul, fierce and devastating. The nether called him louder and louder, but Anakin asked for a couple more seconds to say the proper goodbye. “You already have, Luke,” he replied, trying to stretch his burned lips into a thin smile. “You were right, you were right about me.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>It’s time.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Tell your sister, you were right.”. And with that, he pushed all of himself in one last ripple through the Force, hugging his boy the only way he could. He closed his eyes and let go, falling into the gentle darkness of infinity.</p>
<p>The last thing he heard was Luke’s almost-desperate cry “Father? I won’t leave you!” and a quiet, unspoken<em> Please, don’t leave me.</em></p>
<p>And he wouldn’t, because one last voice sounded in the dark before everything disappeared, and surprisingly it was Yoda’s, reminding him of what he had been told a long time ago, for completely different reasons: “<em>Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not.”</em></p>
<p>The rest of the sentence didn’t matter because Anakin realized that death was not the end, not for him. Instead, he had the vague sensation that a new life was just about to begin.</p>
<p>And, at last, he was free.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When he opened his eyes, Anakin felt like he was drowning. The strange thing about that was that it wasn’t because he couldn’t breathe, exactly, but the contrary: he was no longer used to the feeling of his lungs being able to fill to their maximum capacity.</p>
<p>He wasn’t used to being that <em>alive</em>, for that matter. </p>
<p>He fell to his knees, unable to process what was happening. Where was he? Was he dead? Had the past twenty years been just a bad dream? Unlikely, because he distinctly remembered <em>dying, </em>and Luke’s voice calling his name.</p>
<p>Luke. Leia. The whole concept of being someone else's father still sounded kind of wrong to his own ears, mainly because he suddenly realized that he was looking at his own <em>hands, </em>flesh and mechanical both, not the black gloves he had grown accustomed to hating with every single fibre of his being.</p>
<p>He brought them up to his face and felt, for the first time in what seemed like forever, the familiar edges and curves of his cheekbones and his chin, the soft skin of his face. Even his scar was there.</p>
<p>Yeah, he was definitely dead, and didn’t look a day over twenty-two. </p>
<p>With a shiver, he dismissed the mental image of his old, wretched body, whose memory made him reflexively clench his fists. That was not him, it was the other one, the poor being Palpatine had lured to the dark side thanks to false promises and clever lies. It was the easy way out, pretending that his past and his present were two different people, and one could argue that coming to terms with the consequences of his actions was the only way he could own up to his own mistakes.</p>
<p>But the mere thought of admitting that he had caused so much pain, took so many innocent lives for no reason at all, if not his own amusement, made him feel so sick and disgusted with himself that even death didn’t seem fair. A soul as stained as his was, where could it go? Was it allowed to ever find peace? If it wasn’t, then why did he feel so good?</p>
<p>Anakin tried to remember a time when he had felt as light as he did now, but found no memories like that. His whole life had been one of pain, disguised as many things: first slavery, then being separated from the only person who had loved him without asking for anything in return. People being afraid of him, for no particular reason other than him being different.</p>
<p>Pain, suffering and then more. Nonetheless, most of his memories seemed also to be bathed in a subtle golden light, so bright it almost covered all the bloodstains of his life. </p>
<p>And it was in that precise moment that the axis of whatever planet he was on shifted by a few degrees, or so it seemed. He had of course noticed that around him was some nondescript vegetation whose outline went out of focus whenever he moved his eyes, that the earth under his knees was soft but didn’t stain and it too seemed to change every time he looked away.</p>
<p>But Anakin had been so lost in his train of thoughts that the gentle hum of the Force that surrounded him had gone unnoticed for a while. There was so much <em>life </em>around him, and he was able to sense it all, but couldn’t grasp the meaning behind <em>any </em>of it.</p>
<p>He could sense life, death, love, pain, wonder and the ever changing nature of the universe. He could sense the galaxy itself and all of the life forms that inhabited it, and it was such a perfect balance that his brain wasn’t able to process it. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Is this what it means to be one with the force?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It took Anakin a full five minutes to realize that there <em>was</em> something in close proximity to him of which he could make perfect sense. His breath caught in his throat and for a moment the Force froze around him.</p>
<p>He sprang up and turned with such vigour that he made himself dizzy.</p>
<p>“Took you long enough.”</p>
<p>A couple of metres from him stood a young man, reddish hair neatly arranged around his kind eyes, a slight smile on his bearded face.</p>
<p>“Obi-Wan?” whispered Anakin, frozen in place. Everything seemed to disappear, and then their eyes met. He didn’t even register moving, let alone running, but somehow he found himself wrapped in Obi-Wan arms, so warm against him that the sound he made was frankly quite embarrassing.</p>
<p>When was the last time someone had hugged him like that?</p>
<p>“I am so <em>sorry, </em>Obi-Wan.”</p>
<p>“I know dear one, I know,” said Obi-Wan, stroking his blond hair. He had missed him <em>so much</em> that being physically able to wrap his arms around him was making him tear up a bit, and good thing Anakin couldn’t see his face in that moment.</p>
<p>“Is it really over? I’m not just imagining this, right?” The pain in his voice made him hug Anakin tighter, as to soothe and calm him down. He could only begin to imagine what waking up after that must have felt like.</p>
<p>“It’s real Anakin, I’m not going anywhere.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a wave of emotions radiate off Anakin’s body and explode around them in the Force-equivalent of a million different colors, but what really struck him was his <em>relief</em>. He had no reason to shield himself anymore and took the time to unleash half a lifetime worth of anguish, worry, joy and sadness.</p>
<p>Tentatively, Obi-Wan reached out to him, to see if their bond was still there. He expected to find it in pieces, shredded, but as soon as he found it and gave it a shy tug the Force answered with a roar that left them both breathless. It was like nothing had changed, and just like that they were once again two parts of the same being: their heartbeats frantic but synchronized, their thoughts joined together in a private dance. But Obi-Wan noticed something different about it, and not something inconspicuous either.</p>
<p>He unwrapped himself from their hug, cupped Anakin’s face between his hands and looked at him, straight in the eye. His face was streaked with warm tears but he looked happy, more than ever before, so much that in the force he shone as bright as a supernova.</p>
<p>“Anakin?” he asked, and melted when he saw him lean into his touch with a fondness he had only displayed towards Padmé. Anakin closed his eyes for a moment, savouring the softness of the other man’s skin, and then tried to convey what he felt with one single look. He succeeded, and for a long time they just stood there, looking at each other. There wasn’t anything to say, they didn’t need to speak, so they just joined their souls together, getting used to feeling the other’s presence in that new, marvelous way.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan kept his eyes on Anakin’s face, and couldn’t help but fall in love with him once again. In the many years he had spent alone on that dusty, sad planet, he had dreamt of Anakin many times, but they had felt like nightmares to him: he had taken comfort in imagining a version of the golden man in front of him that had never had the chance to exist. A man who had never suffered like Anakin had, whose eyes were never clouded with that darkness he had seen in the other’s eyes when pretending to be happy.</p>
<p>He had always been able to see through the infinite barriers that Anakin had erected around his heart during his short, troubled life. Every time a new one appeared, he had worked his way around it, because he knew that without oxygen every flame was destined to go out, one way or another. He had tried his best to keep him alive, to show him that he cared, loving him and then his memory even after he had seen the recording of the massacre inside the Jedi Temple. </p>
<p>Because while he was away on Utapau<em> something </em>had killed the Anakin Skywalker he knew, his suspicions only confirmed when he and the ghost inhabiting his body had fought on Mustafar. Anakin had always been a being of light, regardless of what the Jedi Council thought, and the <em>thing</em> that talked with Anakin’s soft voice and had tried to push him down in the river of lava had been surrounded by cold darkness only.</p>
<p>So he had spent his exile looking after the son of the man he had loved, his best friend, the other half of his heart, because he owed him that much. </p>
<p>Looking at him now, he remembered that last time they had really seen each other, on that platform, when he had touched Anakin’s arm without even realizing it, and the boy had looked up - eyes distant and worried - and said goodbye to him. He remembered sending a wave of affection in his direction, hoping to soothe him, and promising that he would be back soon. At the time Anakin had barely acknowledged it, a brief spark of relief and nothing more, but now he felt loved back with the same intensity, if not more. </p>
<p>A soft kiss the boy left on his palm made was all it took for him to bring him closer, bridging any distance left between them. Probably Anakin had been waiting for him to make the first move because Obi-Wan immediately felt him wrap his arms wrap around his waist, a soft exhale before their lips collided.</p>
<p>The Force seemed to explode around them, with an intensity Obi-Wan had never witnessed before. Distantly, he thought about how it now seemed unbelievable to him that anyone could think this was wrong, because if there was one thing he was sure of was that the two of them had always belonged together. And from that day on, they always would be, together.</p>
<p>Anakin’s lips were soft, and his long lashes tickled Obi-Wan’s cheeks, who decided to try and deepen the kiss. Anakin let him, because he had finally understood what it was all supposed to feel like: he moved his left hand and intertwined his fingers in the other’s hair, shifting his head slightly, and then he let it explore the curves of Obi-Wan's neck, his broad and strong shoulders, running it down to his torso and his waist, where at last Anakin let it rest.</p>
<p>“So this is what it was always supposed to feel like, right?”</p>
<p>Obi-wan, misty-eyed, looked up at him and inclined his head to the left, a smile on his lips. “What? The Force?”</p>
<p>So they both had sensed the surge in the Force, but no, Anakin wasn’t referring to that. </p>
<p>“Love.”</p>
<p>“There’s no right answer for that dear one, but I think that in this case, yes. For me it has always been like this.”</p>
<p>Anakin smiled broadly and lowered to leave the softest kiss on his forehead, then gently guided him to rest his head on his own chest and wrapped them close in another hug, unable to let go of him.</p>
<p>“Deep down I always knew, it just took me twenty years to understand it.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan didn’t dare move but reached down to take Anakin’s left hand with his own. He caressed his knuckles and proceeded to intertwine their fingers together, then lifted them close to his face so as to kiss the back of Anakin’s hand.</p>
<p>“I missed you - so much, all these years - I spent them trapped within that body, and the only thing that kept this part of me alive were all the memories I had of you, of us,” said Anakin, rubbing his face back and forth on Obi-Wan’s soft hair . It felt so good to be that close to him. “You always brought out the best of me and it took me too long to realize it, and when I did, it was already too late.”</p>
<p>He just needed him, so bad.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t your fault, my dear. Even when Vader cut me down I knew it wasn’t you, standing in front of me, I always knew,” Obi-Wan replied, a gentle smile curving his lips. He looked up at the man he loved more than life itself and was filled with such tremendous joy his body felt too small to contain it.</p>
<p>A brief but intense humming interrupted them abruptly: Anakin’s head snapped up and his gaze hardened. Someone else had appeared, and was looking at them disapprovingly.</p>
<p>“Time to go, it is,” said Master Yoda, eyeing them with suspicion. Not that the two of them wrapped together like that left much up to interpretation. Also, just because Luke had grown up to be forgiving, that didn’t mean that Anakin was to follow him down that path. He felt no sympathy for the old Master and had not forgotten how hostile he had always been towards him.</p>
<p>He shifted positions and quickly moved in front of Obi-Wan, shielding him with his body.</p>
<p>“We’re not going anywhere, Master Yoda,” he said, coolly. The old Master did not look impressed and, as per usual, shifted his focus to Obi-Wan, who sighed and put one hand on Anakin’s small back, which made him shiver pleasantly.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you again,” he paused to feel Anakin relax, slightly, then continued, “he just means that we ought to go, Luke’s waiting for you.”</p>
<p>At that he turned around to face him, looking utterly confused. “What do you mean? I’m dead. There’s no way he can be waiting for me, anywhere, isn’t that the whole concept behind death or I’m missing something?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan laughed and put a hand on his shoulder, which then slid down his arm, only to make Yoda even more annoyed than he already was. “You’ll see.”</p>
<p>And indeed he did see. Somehow, the Force teleported them to the moon of Endor, where thousands of Ewoks seemed to be having a party is somebody’s honour: the music was loud and joyful, food was passed around and the whole mood was so overly contagious that Anakin smiled, too.</p>
<p>“What’s all of this for?” He asked, gesturing with one hand towards the little creatures jumping around. A brief wave of Yoda’s exasperation washed over him, replaced almost immediately with the more intense amusement which was radiating from Obi-Wan, standing to his left. “This,” he interjected before Yoda could come up with one of his witty remarks “is because the galaxy, thanks to your children, is finally at peace.”</p>
<p>“Your funeral, missed you have” said then the old Master, probably hoping to annoy in some way. Too bad Anakin was too happy to pay attention to him, and had started looking for a familiar mop of blonde hair and the cascade of brown he was sure followed it</p>
<p>“I’ve been to too many, skipping my own can be forgiven.” He saw Obi-Wan lift a hand and try to hide the smile on his face, as if they couldn’t <em>sense </em>how much he was enjoying their bickering.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>One eternity to make fun of him? He better be ready.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And then Anakin saw him, walking towards the opening in the trees where they were, his head down. Luke.</p>
<p>“Are you ready?” Obi-Wan asked him, brushing his hand against his own. He had changed appearance and now looked like the old hermit from Tatooine, which did take him a little aback.</p>
<p>“Do I- do I have to change too?” he asked, downright terrified. He had no intention of showing himself to his son looking like Vader.</p>
<p>“That is entirely up to you, but no, he will understand who you are, no matter what you look like.” Obi-Wan said before taking one step to pass over the veil to appear in the real word, surrounded by a blue light.</p>
<p>Anakin took a deep breath and followed him, just as Luke decided to finally look up. A wave of emotions washed over them both and had the calming presence of Obi-Wan not been there, Anakin would have started crying.</p>
<p>His son smiled brightly at him, his grief soon forgotten, because his father had listened to his prayer and hadn't left him, and never would. Soon after that, his daughter appeared and wrapped an arm around Luke’s back, who turned away to look down at her with fondness in his eyes. Leia looked so much like her mother that it almost hurt, but Anakin knew that Padmé would have been so, so proud of her. Just like he was, of them both.</p>
<p>He watched them go away and retracted back into the force, a sudden weight on his chest. He hadn’t been there for them, but the kindness and love of other people had allowed them to grow up strong and without any of the pain he had endured in his childhood.</p>
<p>Bitterly he thought about how, in a sense, his presence had caused them nothing but suffering. Their lives would probably have been better without their father's interference, but since there was nothing he could do to change the past, he only hoped that their future could be even brighter.</p>
<p>Two strong arms appeared from behind him, and circled his waist and his chest. Obi-Wan’s head came to rest on his right shoulder, his neatly trimmed red beard nuzzling against his temple.</p>
<p>Feeling safe, Anakin let go and cried it all out.</p>
<p>“I want to thank you.”</p>
<p>“What for, my dear?” Obi-Wan asked, tightening his gentle grip around Anakin’s trembling frame.</p>
<p>“For giving my children a chance at a life of love and freedom. You and the Organas did such a good job, better than anything I could have ever done.” he replied, sniffling.</p>
<p>“Nonsense. I can feel just how fiercely you love them, and I can assure that you would have been a great father to them, trust me.” Anakin nodded absent-mindedly and leaned back into the other man’s warm body, hanging onto him with his mechno-arm: he was pretty sure that if he let go, he would fall to the ground, his legs unable to sustain the weight of his body.</p>
<p>“I love you.” he said, and the fact that it slipped out without him even noticing just meant it was true, because if there was something Anakin Skywalker was unable to do was lie about his feelings.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan kissed the side of his head and stretched out with the Force, wrapping them both in a warm embrace while they stood there, watching the galaxy celebrate the end of tyranny and the beginning of what everyone hoped would be a long period of peace.</p>
<p>“I know, I love you too”</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Helloooooooo I'm back with my first obikin ever!! Hurray!!</p>
<p>Anyway, I hope you liked it! If you did (or didn't) please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your opinions. As usual, one ENORMOUS THANK YOUU TO MY PARTNER IN CRIME AND FELLOW OBIKIN SHIPPER CECILIAAAAAAA, without her influence and beta reading the gay shit would not exist.</p>
<p>And I'm off, see you soon (hopefully), there's more to come!<br/>ShawnArms</p></blockquote></div></div>
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